*GILBERT & SULLIVAN ACTOR DEREK OLDHAM RARE 1920 AUTOGRAPHED PHOTO*

Description

A rare original autographed photographic postcard circa 1920 of D'Oyly Carte principal tenor Derek Oldham. His roles included Nanki-Poo, Colonel Fairfax, Ralph Rackstraw, Frederic, and many more.  Light wear otherwise good. See Derek Oldham's biography below.
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From Wikipedia:
Derek Oldham
(29 March 1887 – 20 March 1968) was an English singer and actor, best known for his performances in the
tenor
roles of the
Savoy Operas
with the
D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
.
After performing in concerts as a
boy soprano
and working as a bank clerk, Oldham began a professional performing career in 1914. With the outbreak of World War I, he joined the
Scots Guards
, serving with valour. After the war, he joined the
D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
, singing the tenor leads in the
Gilbert and Sullivan
operas for three years. He then starred in musicals and operettas in the
West End
in the 1920s, including
Madame Pompadour
,
The Merry Widow
,
Rose-Marie
and
The Vagabond King
. He returned to the D'Oyly Carte for brief periods from 1929 to 1937.
Oldham continued singing, recording and acting through the 1940s, also appearing in several films. He concentrated on legitimate theatre in the 1950s, acting until the age of 70. He maintained a lifelong interest in Gilbert and Sullivan, serving as an officer of the Gilbert and Sullivan Society. He finally retired to
Hampshire
during the last ten years of his life.
Oldham was born
John Stephens Oldham
in
Accrington
, Lancashire, the son of Thomas Oldham and his wife Harriett,
née
Stephens. He had an elder brother, George, and a sister. As a child, Oldham was a
boy soprano
in demand for over five years in oratorios (including Sullivan's
The Golden Legend
and
The Prodigal Son
), concerts (including "Neath My Lattice" from Sullivan's
The Rose of Persia
), and
pantomimes
. As a young man, he worked as a bank clerk and sang in amateur operatic societies.
[1]
[2]
He debuted on the professional adult stage in 1914, as Julien in
The Daring of Diane
, an operetta by Alfred Anderson and
Heinrich Reinhardt
, presented at the
London Pavilion
. He made an immediate mark:
The Observer
said that he "has an exceptionally charming tenor voice, uses it with fine art, and acts with engaging simplicity and sincerity."
[3]
Later that year, at the
Lyric Theatre
, he played Bumerli in
The Chocolate Soldier
, in which he also won excellent notices.
[4]
At the end of that year, after the outbreak of World War I, he joined the
Scots Guards
, a year later was commissioned in the
East Lancashire Regiment
and was awarded the
Military Cross
for gallantry in Macedonia in 1918.
[1]
During the war, he formed a concert group to entertain his fellow servicemen, also producing
The Chocolate Soldier
not far from enemy lines.
[5]
D'Oyly Carte and musical comedy years
Winnie Melville (
Philip Alexius de László
, 1920)
Oldham was demobilised in July 1919 and joined the
D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
the following month, when the company opened its first London season in over a decade. He immediately assumed the leading
Gilbert and Sullivan
tenor
roles of Alexis in
The Sorcerer
, Lord Tolloller in
Iolanthe
, Cyril in
Princess Ida
, Nanki-Poo in
The Mikado
, Colonel Fairfax in
The Yeomen of the Guard
, and Marco in
The Gondoliers
.
[1]
The following year, he also took on the roles of Ralph Rackstraw in
H.M.S. Pinafore
, Frederic in
The Pirates of Penzance
, and Richard Dauntless in
Ruddigore
. In 1921 he exchanged Cyril for Prince Hilarion in
Princess Ida
.
[6]
Oldham left the D'Oyly Carte company in 1922 to star in a great number of musicals and operettas during the 1920s at the
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
and other
West End
theatres. His first musical was
Whirled into Happiness
at the
Lyric Theatre
, as Horace Wiggs, where his leading lady was his future wife, Winnie Melville. They married in 1923.
[7]
She later joined the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company as a principal soprano.
[8]
Oldham wrote, "The sheltered, almost student life of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company gave place to the hard glitter and luxury of the West End theatre – a world of restaurants, supper parties, and all the trappings that went with London theatrical life between the two wars".
[2]
Other musicals in which Oldham starred included
Madame Pompadour
(1923, as Rene),
The Merry Widow
(1923, as Camille), and
Rose-Marie
(1925, as Jim).
[1]
In 1927, Oldham and Melville starred together in the European première of
The Vagabond King
, he as François Villon, and she as Katherine de Vaucelles.
[9]
They separated in 1933 and later divorced,
[7]
and she died in 1937.
[10]
Henry Lytton
,
Elsie Griffin
and Oldham in
The Sorcerer
Oldham returned several times to D'Oyly Carte, appearing in the 1929–30 season and on tour in his old roles of Ralph, Frederic, Tolloller, Hilarion, Nanki-Poo, Fairfax, and Marco.
[8]
In the 1934–35 season, he played these roles on the company's first major American tour in the 20th century.
[11]
In 1936, during the company's season at
Sadler's Wells
, he played Hilarion,
[12]
and he was leading tenor in the 1936–37 season, which included another long American tour.
[13]
Oldham's presence was a condition demanded by the American promoters.
[14]
During this tour he and
Sylvia Cecil
were excused by the company for one night to sing a program of classical and popular favorites, including "Prithee, pretty maiden" from
Patience
, the evening before President
Roosevelt
's 2nd inauguration, at a party at the
White House
.
[10]
[15]
Later years
Oldham later played in many musicals and plays, including
The Song of the Drum
at Drury Lane, as Captain Anthony Darrell (1931).
[16]
He appeared at the
Royal Albert Hall
as Chibiabos in
Hiawatha
in 1938, conducted by
Malcolm Sargent
.
[1]
[17]
After 1948 he developed a career as a
Lieder
singer and lecture-recitalist and later as a character actor in non-musical plays.
[1]
His last role in London was Dr. Stoner in the
Agatha Christie
play
Verdict
(1958). Between 1934 and 1957, he also appeared in several films.
[14]
In 1940, on 29 February, the character Frederic came of age, as described in
The Pirates of Penzance
, Act II. This was a significant date for any G&S tenor.
[18]
In New York, the Gilbert and Sullivan Society journal, "The Palace Peeper", marked the event by publishing an original ode to Frederic, in which Oldham was honoured as the archetype of the romantic Frederic. A member of the Gilbert and Sullivan Society in London from 1924, Oldham was elected Vice-President of the Society in 1947.
[14]
During his last decade, Oldham lived in retirement in
Hayling Island
, Hampshire, but he often visited London. He acted as compère for the D'Oyly Carte company's last night revelries at the close of its 1961–62 London season at the Savoy Theatre.
[19]
He died in
Portsmouth
in 1968, just before his 81st birthday.
[14]
Oh! Is There Not One Maiden Breast
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Derek Oldham as Frederic in the 1920 HMV acoustic recording of
Pirates
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media help
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Recordings and films
Oldham played leading tenor roles in nineteen full and abridged
HMV
Savoy opera recordings, as follows: Defendant in
Trial by Jury
(1928), Alexis in
The Sorcerer
(1933), Frederic in
Pirates
(1920, 1929 and 1931), the Duke of Dunstable in
Patience
(1930), Earl Tolloller in
Iolanthe
(1922 [part] and 1929), Hilarion in
Princess Ida
(1924 and 1932), Nanki-Poo in
The Mikado
(1926 and 1936), Richard Dauntless in
Ruddigore
(1924 and 1931), Colonel Fairfax in
Yeomen
(1920, 1928 and 1931) and Marco in
The Gondoliers
(1927 and 1931).
[20]
He also made numerous recordings of songs, musicals and operettas.
He also appeared in several films between 1934 and 1957, including
The Broken Rosary
(1934), as Giovanni;
Charing Cross Road
(1935), as Jimmy O'Connell;
Melody of My Heart
(1936), as Joe Montfort, and
Dangerous Exile
(1957), as William.